A 10/10 Mine On The Abandoned Mine Scale

I don’t casually throw around a 10/10 on the Abandoned Mine Scale. In fact, I had to struggle to come up with even 5 mines I have visited that earned that official designation. However, this mine has it all – intact square set timbering, history, a complex layout, intact square set timbering, an interesting geological mix, cool artifacts, intact square set timbering, remarkable displays of mining talent… Did I mention the intact square set timbering?

I have been inside of literally hundreds of abandoned mines now and this is the FIRST time that I have ever seen intact square set timbering. That’s how rare it is! Even if I take into account collapsed square set timbering, I can only think of two mines that had it. And if I include mines that I know about, but have not visited, I can only think of one mine that has intact square set timbering. Square set timbering is really a lost art and is not something a mine explorer will encounter often.

History? Work started at this mine in the early 1870s... It is safe to say that I am impressed by how intact it is after 150 years. The ground in some parts of that mine was less than reassuring, too. So, 150-years-old + bad ground = me impressed at the generally very good condition of the mine. Don’t be thrown off by those dates written on the support timber near the portal (I recall that one of them was from 1909 and I think the other was from around then). The mine was mapped in 1909 and those signatures date from that time. Work had already stopped at the mine by then though.

Interesting geology? Silver, gold, zinc, lead and copper were all pulled from this mine… However, the main focus was on the gold, silver and lead. So, those brilliant colors I kept putting the camera onto are a mix of ore from those various elements (with some sulfides mixed in as well).

Mining talent? I believe those pillars of gobbing and the square set timbering that is still as intact as it was when first placed a century and a half ago are a testament to the master craftsmen that worked this mine. I already talked about the square set timbering, but that gobbing would be noteworthy on its own in any other mine. Gobbing is common, but the highest stacks of gobbing I had seen before this mine topped out at around fifteen feet. I had never seen gobbing formed into pillars that ran up through multiple levels. And despite the tremendous pressure of all of that weight, it was almost all still in place!

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You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD

As well as a small gear update here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

Thanks for watching!

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Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.

These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand – bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind... These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born.

So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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Видео A 10/10 Mine On The Abandoned Mine Scale канала TVR Exploring